


Good Mother

by TheOtherOdinson



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Thor (Movies)
Genre: AU, Alternate Universe, Family Drama, Family Dynamics, Gen, Loki Has Issues, Parent Frigga, actually they all have issues, this family needs therapy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-27
Updated: 2016-04-27
Packaged: 2018-06-04 19:03:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,025
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6671158
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheOtherOdinson/pseuds/TheOtherOdinson
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After Loki blasted Thor through a wall and declared his intent to destroy Jotunheim, Frigga went after him herself.  How could she not? She's his mother.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Good Mother

_You're in shock. You must move. Do something, woman. Move your feet. Hurry!_

Frigga gasped, a wheezy, whining sound that seemed to come from some other woman, certainly not her. She bid her feet to move and to her surprise they did. Stumbling forward, she almost fell before catching herself on the corner of Odin's bed. She pushed off and straightened. Ignored how her hands trembled, as she tried to make sense of what she'd just witnessed.

Frost giants, led by Laufey. Here. Attacking. She struck one down, but still couldn't stop them. Odin helpless. Loki appearing in time to save one father by killing the other. Thor returned. She'd no sooner finished hugging one son as tightly as she could before grabbing hold of the other. Joy filled her heart at her family together and unharmed.

But Thor had returned angry, hurling terrible accusations against his brother. Accusations Loki did not deny with any degree of believability before blasting his brother though the wall before leaving without a look back, despite her calling his name.

In her horror, she froze.

Now she ran to Odin's side. "Wake! You must wake! Odin, please!" She shook him and willed him to open his eye. Surely he knew what had just taken place? He had to wake. Their sons needed him.

She needed him.

Most believed Odin would only rouse from his deep sleep when he was ready. They were mistaken. His queen could force him awake if needed. It was something she'd never done before. Never had there been a need. It would take a tremendous amount of power and likely drain her. Odin warned long ago, to be sure before she attempted such a thing. It would leave her weak, possibly unconscious.

Or worse.

 _The reason must be dire,_ he'd explained long ago after they were wed. _For you to take such a risk, Asgard itself would have to be in grave peril. Do you understand?_

_Yes._

_This counts._ Frigga gathered herself, preparing to draw on the seidr that would bring her king, her children's father, back to her.

And stopped. Reconsidered.

Frigga leaned over her husband's still form and pressed a kiss to his forehead. "Wake soon, my love. Your family has need of you."

Rushing from the bed to the door, Frigga ran out into the corridor calling for the guards. Confused, for it occurred to her with the commotion within the Allfather's healing room the guards should have come sooner. She could see there were none where there should be guards posted. She called out again, wondering if Laufey struck them all down beforehand. She heard footsteps only moments before a squad of Einherjar rounded the corner at a run.

Tyr was with them. He rushed to her. "My queen, are you well?"

"Where were the guards that are posted at these doors?" she demanded.

"Prince - King Loki sent them away with orders to re-enforce the guards in the weapons vault. Is he here? I would ask him if there is a threat I am unaware of."

Frigga drew herself up at that. Pulling back her shoulders and forcing a calm to settle over her appearance she certainly did not feel. "I know not why my son changed their orders, but I'm sure he had good reason. Likely he believed the Jotun would attempt another incursion. And they did, Tyr. Only they came here instead."

Tyr gaped at her. "Here? The Allfather!" Tyr tried to step around her to see into the room beyond.

Frigga stopped him with steady hand on his shoulder. "No harm came to him. Loki arrived in time to fend them off. Then Thor soon after."

She didn't miss the look of naked relief that washed across Tyr's face at the news of Thor's return. "So all is well, my queen? The Allfather is safe and Thor is returned to us."

 _No, nothing is well, you stupid man! My sons are at each other's throats while mine husband sleeps._ "I do not know if more than these few Jotun arrived in Asgard, Tyr. Gather your warriors to conduct a search. I want the Allfather guarded at all times. Do you understand?"

"At once, my queen. The king will not be left unattended. I'll see to it. Where are the princes?" Tyr paused, his mouth pulling tight. "I mean to say - the king and the crown prince."

Frigga ignored his lapse in etiquette. "My sons are seeing to the safety of their home, Lord Tyr. As are we all."

 

*** * * * ***

 

Frigga slid off the back of her mare and landed lightly on the shuddering Bifrost. The closer she got, the more deafening the sound. The clashing of weapons mixing with the scream of the overworked Bifrost echoed through the night air. Her mare nickered in distress from the chaos, but was too loyal to leave the side of her mistress. Frigga sent her away with a soft word, watching her trot away toward the safety of land. Undoubtedly stable hands would already be nearby once she reached the great gateway leading back into the city. They would be tending to Loki's horse, who'd Frigga had spied grazing peacefully on sweet grass growing near the enormous gates as she made her own hurried flight to the observatory.

Frigga wasted no time running inside the walls of Heimdall's domain. No sooner had she left the palace walls than she was greeted by the sight of Thor's friends carrying Heimdall to healing halls. In the time it took to reach her horse the guards buzzed with worry for Asgard's gatekeeper, worry they were being invaded.

_Who could strike down Heimdall?_

_Did you see? Did you see? Someone froze the gatekeeper!_

_Frost Giants! Again!_

_Pity the Allfather didn't wipe them all out when he had the chance._

In her heart, Frigga feared she knew exactly who was to blame for Heimdall's attack. She bade every guard she passed to be calm, be alert. Give voice to no reckless rumours and keep the city safe.

_My queen, what about the Bifrost? Something is happening._

Her sons were securing the Bifrost, she told them without a flicker of lie in her voice as she rode off.

Horror and disbelief wretched her heart at the sight before her now. The mechanism to open the Bifrost had been jammed open using the Casket of Ancient Winters. Frigga had little doubt as to where the Bifrost was pointed.

Jotunheim's greatest power was being used to destroy them. By the prince they unknowingly shared with Asgard.

_Oh, Loki. No._

Frigga felt ill. The sound of the Bifrost and the Casket's power being forced together reverberated around her. She could feel it in her bones, in her soul, in the distress of Yggdrasil itself. Still she could hear the sound of Thor and Loki fighting further beyond. Frigga stepped as close to the Casket as she was able, the intense cold biting into rapidly numbing skin. Tentatively, she reached out with her own power to try and separate the Casket from the Bifrost.

Then she was blinking up at the ceiling having been knocked back with a force that left her momentarily stunned.

_Move. Hurry! Hurry!_

She shook off the shock and quickly found her feet. Frigga skirted her way around the centre of the Observatory and rushed out the other side. There she realized it was not simply the force of the Casket that knocked her off her feet.

"Thor! Stop!"

Thor pulled his second strike on the Bifrost at the last second, looking up at her with wide-eyed resolve. "Mother, I have to stop this!"

"Yes, yes _we_ have to stop this. Loki, come here. Now!" she raised her voice to be heard over the chaos of sound. Loki wavered in indecision from where he was half-laying on his back further down the bridge. The look he was directing at his brother made her want to fold herself into a ball and weep. Instead she pushed command into her voice that had nothing to do with being a queen and everything with being a mother. "Now! Bring Gungnir."

"But Mother," Thor began.

"No!" she silenced him with a look. "Loki, now!"

Loki obeyed. He was slow to pull himself to his feet and his steps hesitant, but he came to her with Gungnir clutched tightly in his hands. Loki didn't look at her once. He and Thor were locked into wary, hostile gazes.

"Both of you. Follow me." Frigga led the way, confident her sons were at her heels. It was slow going as the power building within becoming so much it pushed against them and her feet kept slipping along the shivering surface of the bridge. She grit her teeth and forced her way forward back into the Observatory. When she reached as close to the mechanism and the Casket she dared, she turned to face Loki.

"Stop this."

He shook his head. "I can't. It can't be stopped."

Thor raised Mjolnir and pointed back out at the open bridge. "Mother, I have to break it! There's no other way."

"There is. Loki, you used Gungnir to open the Bifrost. You will use it to close it."

Loki's eyes flicked between her and Gungnir and the Casket and back again. He hesitated before he spoke, quiet so she had to strain over the roaring sound to hear him. "I have to finish this. They have to be destroyed."

Moving faster than he could react Frigga grabbed him. With both hands pressing on the sides of his face, she held him tightly and forced him to meet her eyes. "You will put a stop to this right now. Or I will take Gungnir from you and do it myself."

Her heart clenched at the tears welling up in Loki's eyes. She ignored the urge to pull him into her arms and hug his pain away, holding herself as stern as she could before he pulled away from her. She gave Thor another sharp look that kept him in place when he tried to follow after his brother.

Loki moved to stand before the Casket, keeping his back firmly to them. He released Gungnir and called the Casket to him. With a brief motion he seemed to banish it away. Frigga's awareness of its power lessened at once. As soon as he touched the Casket, Loki went rigid. In the next moment he snatched up Gungnir, blasted away the ice build-up, and stepped up to slide the staff into the Bifrost mechanism.

All at once everything went silent.

Frigga was aware of the increasingly agitated looks Thor was giving her the longer they all stood motionless. Still Loki kept his back to them from where he stood with both hands still wrapped around Gungnir. She remembered what he told her happened when he touched the Casket in the Vault. She hadn't seen any part of him turn Jotun blue, but now she wondered if it was what kept him from turning to face them now. She wanted to nothing more than to hug him, tell him it was all right, that there was nothing wrong with how he looked.

"Loki," she began, taking a step toward him and keeping her voice gentle in the sudden void of sound around them.

"Why did you do this?!" Thor roared into the stillness. "Why?"

Loki remained silent.

"Thor..." Frigga began.

Thor ignored her "YOU ANSWER ME!"

"Thor!" Frigga was prepared to order him back to the palace at once and leave her to speak with his brother alone.

But the effect was lost when Loki whirled around to glare at his brother, his eyes spilling over with loathing and despair. He showed no effect from handling the Casket, skin as Aesir pale as it had been from the first time she held him in her arms so long ago. His hands curled into fists at his side as he left Gungnir standing in the silenced Bifrost mechanism. "Oh, how delighted you must be, Brother. Once again you've emerged triumphant. Let the bells in all the towers ring. Hail the Mighty Thor, Asgard's Greatest Hero!"

Frigga recoiled at the bitterness in the snarled words. But Loki wasn't finished. And neither was Thor.

"You're angry at me?" Thor was incredulous. "You tried to kill me! You tried to destroy an entire planet! And you're angry at me? How dare you!"

"How dare I? HOW FUCKING DARE YOU - YOU ARROGANT, PIG-HEADED..." Loki shrieked, losing his composure.

"You have no right...!" Thor hollered back.

"THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT!"

"My fault!? What are you talking about?"

"STOP IT!"

They stopped. They were both breathing hard, standing only feet from each other as they had unconsciously closed in on one another with every angry word. But with one bellowed command from their mother, they stopped and stared at her as though they'd forgotten she was present.

"That's enough," she told them. As she saw the signs of protest rising in them, she raised a hand to silence them both. "I said, enough. Loki, take Gungnir and lead us back to the palace. Thor, remain silent and walk with me."

"But," Thor couldn't remain silent.

"No." Frigga was firm. "We are going home. Loki, you will tell the guards Asgard is safe. Send some out to secure the Bifrost until Heimdall is well enough to resume his post. Dismiss the guards I left with your father. You can leave Gungnir there with him.

"Your father will wake soon," she hurried to explain in the face of his downcast expression. "If you would like to sit with him until he does so, then of course you may. Both of you. But perhaps you may prefer to find some rest. I will wait with your father. We will talk about what happened later. Now come."

She led the way out of the Conservatory with both sons trailing behind her. She kept her pace deliberately slow, waiting for Loki to regain enough of himself to stride out in front. As her son-king led the way back to the palace, her newly restored son stepped up to walk at her side. He gave her a long, searching look, but kept his peace. Long perfected masks of calm confidence firmly in place, the three of them made their way back home.

 

*** * * * ***

 

Loki hovered indecisively by Odin's bed, looking down at his father with Gungnir still in his grasp. Loki's calm mask slid away, being replaced by a war of emotions - hope, despair, longing. Fear.

He'd said little on the walk back to the palace. Giving few orders and answering fewer questions. All those they encountered addressed Thor first, then Loki. Frigga watched as he drew further and further within himself over the short distance.

Now they four were alone with the doors closed and quiet pressed in on them.

"He'll hear you if you want to speak to him," Frigga encouraged. Thor still stood in stony silence at her side.

Her spoken words seemed to be spur Loki into action. He carefully set Gungnir down on the bed at Odin's side before turning on his heel and rushing out of the room without a word.

"Loki," she called after him. But he was already gone.

Thor started after him. Frigga stopped him with a hand on his arm. He looked at her hand for a long moment, before raising his eyes to meet hers. He looked back at the doors Loki had disappeared through. "What happened here?" he asked, the words dragging out of him as if he'd forgotten how to speak. "I don't understand."

Frigga put her arms around him and tried to squeeze all the love and reassurance she could into her hug. "I am so grateful you are returned to us, Thor. Much has happened. We will discuss it further, I promise."

"But, Loki?"

"Has much weighing on his mind. Leave him be."

Thor moved away, slow and unsure, before taking a seat on the opposite side of the bed from Frigga's usual place. Taking the very place Loki had sat mere days ago after his confrontation with his father in the Vault. Thor's unhappiness radiated from every muscle, just as his brother had then and now.

Frigga stood at foot of the bed, watching over her husband in his sleep. Her mind turning over and over as she tried to decide what to do next.

_How could I not have foreseen this?_

She meant what she said to Thor about leaving Loki alone. If he went after his brother now, all they would do is fight. She knew it as sure as she drew breath. But she couldn't deceive herself that leaving Loki completely alone would be a wise course of action. The longer Loki stewed in his anger and pain, the less chance she would have to reach him.

_If he doesn't not speak to me, it makes little difference. At least he will not be alone._

"Thor, will you stay with your father until he awakes?"

Thor glanced at her, his face tightening in realization of what she meant to do. But he said nothing. Simply nodded his head.

Frigga set off in search of her youngest son. As she moved through the halls, she took note of the mood of those she passed. They were alert, though more at ease now they were sure the danger had passed. All denied having seen Loki.

_Oh my little one, hiding from others already?_

But Loki had never demonstrated an interest in hiding himself from her and she found him in the first place she looked. Slumped down in a chair on the balcony off his sitting room. He stared out unseeing over Asgard. Arms crossed and cape folded protectively around him. He didn't look at her as she pulled a nearby chair closer to him and took a seat.

She didn't push, simply joined him in his silent regard of the realm flung out at their feet.

"I should leave Asgard," Loki said after a time.

"Why?"

Silence.

"Is that your answer?" she prodded gently.

Loki gave her a look she could not interpret before returning his gaze outward. She wondered what it was he saw now after all that had happened. If he could still look at Asgard the same way he did before taking up Gungnir. Before he learned the truth.

"I don't belong here," he said at last.

That stung. She tried not to let it show. "Where do you think you belong?" she asked.

Loki shook his head. "Not here."

"Asgard is still your home."

He scoffed at that. "Is it?"

"If not Asgard, then where do you belong?"

His response came quickly. "Nowhere."

"I disagree."

"As do I."

They both jerked in their seats at finding Odin standing so close by. Frigga pressed her lips together tightly to stop herself from rebuking him for interrupting even as she and Loki both rose. She saw a stricken look pass across Loki's features a moment before his expression shuttered and he stared down at his boots.

She gathered herself to stand at Odin's side, pressing a kiss to his cheek. "Welcome back, husband."

"I appear to have missed much," he replied.

At that, Loki's face grew more closed off.

Odin studied him in silence. "Frigga, would you leave us alone? Loki and I have much to discuss, I think. One king to another. I would know how the realms fared while I was indisposed."

"Odin, perhaps..."

"Frigga," he cut her off with a look. "I would speak privately with my son."

She looked between them. Loki not looking at anything, Odin not taking his eye off him. Their inscrutable expressions near mirror images.

"Very well. Loki." She gave into the impulse she'd been holding at bay for far too long and hugged him, fierce and close. "We are your family," she spoke softly. "I am your mother. Whatever comes, hold that to your heart. Know how very much I love you, and always will."

When she drew away she fixed Odin with sharp look. _Don't make it worse._

He nodded once in response. With one last smile at Loki that she hoped communicated all the truth of her words, Frigga retreated inside.

"I could have done it, Father..."

Frigga sent out a whisper to any who may be listening as she crossed the room, leaving the conversation between Odin and Loki behind her. _Please. Help them find their way._

 

*** * * * ***

 

Leaving Odin with Loki, Frigga opted to seek out Thor. He, too, was not difficult to find. Assured by Eir herself of his recovery, Frigga pulled Thor away from Heimdall's bedside in the healing halls and led him back to the privacy of her own sitting room.

"Will you now tell me what is going on, Mother?" Thor asked once they were behind closed doors.

"What did your father tell you?" she wanted to know.

"Little. As did Heimdall. Am I to be kept in the dark as to why my own brother tried to kill me? And attack Jotunheim as he did?"

She expected Thor to be angry. The weariness in his tone surprised her. His confusion and unhappiness worn plainly on his face.

 _No more secrets,_ she decided.

She sat Thor down with her. Holding one of his hands between hers, she explained the truth of Loki's birth and the circumstances that led Loki to discover the truth on his own. Keeping her voice low as to force Thor to listen, she spoke without interruption and without allowing him to pull away from her even as he grew tense. She'd no sooner finished telling him the story when Thor wrenched away from her as though her touch burned him. He stood and rapidly walked a few steps away from her before turning to look back at her.

His anger returned. "Why are you saying all of this? How can you give voice to such lies?

"Thor!"

"My brother is no Jotun. Why would you say something so horrible? You would justify his actions by claiming he's one of those vicious creatures?"

Frigga was on her feet in an instant. The force of her hand striking Thor's face echoed through the room. Thor looked at her with eyes wide in shock. The place where her hand hit him was bright red even through his beard, contrasting vividly as the rest of his face went pale.

"Don't you say that! Don't you dare!" her voice shook even as her stomach curled in on itself at both her reaction and his.

Thor's eyes broke through her rush to anger. Filled over with confusion and shame, he tried to turn away. She reached for him and, mimicking how she held Loki's face in the Observatory earlier, she clutched Thor's cheeks in her hands and forced him to look at her.

"My son, I know what I have said is not easy to hear. I understand reacting from a place of anger and hurt. I bid you now - go to your rooms, stay there and think. Think about what it would feel like to live your whole life knowing your place in existence. You are the son of Odin and Frigga. A son of Asgard.

"Then one day you find out - through your own misadventure - you are not. Imagine finding out you were born of Jotunheim instead and that the parents who raised you and loved you with their every breath, also lied to you," Frigga's voice cracked,  and she paused before forcing herself to continue. "Imagine the pain and the confusion, the betrayal and anger you would carry in your heart. Then, and only then, may you leave your rooms."

Frigga moved her hands to Thor's shoulders, using him to pull herself up and press a soft kiss to the cheek she'd slapped. She put her hands back to his face and used her thumbs to sweep away the tears spilling from his eyes. "Please, my son. I know you are angry. I also know just how much you love your brother. Keep that close to your heart while you consider all that has occurred, and do as I say."

Thor stared at her helplessly for a long moment before he ducked his head and left the room, shoulders slumped. She wanted to call him back, hug him and assure him everything would be all right. She held herself firm and watched him go.

She busied herself with mindless tasks as she waited for Odin to return. He finally returned late in the night. She was struck by how tired he looked so soon after waking from the sleep meant to restore him.

"Loki?" she asked.

Odin was slow to respond. He set aside Gungnir and his cape. Wandered through the room to come to stand propped against a wall and looking out into the night sky. She followed after him, remembering only days earlier the two of them standing in a similar fashion while arguing over the fate of another son.

Neither of them raised their voices.

"He's...," Odin was hesitant, uncertain in a way she'd never seen him before about anything.  "He's upset. Trying not to show it, but I can see."

Centuries ago Odin had described an inferno raging destruction and death through one of Vanaheim's continents as a "small blaze". She was amazed then by his ability to understate a problem. Now more so.

"'Upset'"? she echoed.

"Yes," Odin said. "He's taken the truth about his parentage badly. As I suspected he would. This is why I didn't want him to know."

"Or we could have told him when he was young, so that he always knew and it wouldn't have been laying in wait to be sprung on him."

His answering look of irritation made her angry. Again. Perhaps they would end up yelling at each other over their other child after all.

"I was not wrong in trying to protect him, Frigga," Odin said. "If anything, my error lay in that there are those in this realm - even in my own house - that think my laws are to be so flagrantly disregarded. Jotunheim was forbidden for a reason."

"Yet now the truth has been unleashed and even you cannot re-harness it."

Odin deflated, leaning more heavily into the wall holding him upright. "I know." He made an unamused sound deep in his throat.  "I am Allfather, but cannot even command obedience from my own sons much less protect them from their own folly."

He looked over at her. "He still wants to leave."

"It's because of his hurt he was wants to hide himself away so no one can see."

Odin considered this. "He asked me for my leave to allow it. Perhaps - perhaps it would be best to let him go."

Frigga shook her head in denial. "Leaving Asgard for a time may help him see things more clearly, but not while alone. He will only bury the pain he feels. It will change him, Odin. Not for the better."

"I don't suppose he would welcome my company."

She smiled ruefully. "I would hope mine would be more welcome."

He returned her smile with a sad one. "I go to sleep with one son exiled, another learning secrets best left unlearned, and Asgard on the brink of war. I awake with my son returned, the war most decidedly won, and another son on the brink of his own self-imposed exile. And my queen would go with him. Is this to be my legacy?"

Frigga had no answer.

 

*** * * * ***

 

She returned to Loki's quarters often over the course of the next few days. Each time she walked through the doors, she feared this would be the time she would find them abandoned. Her son gone. Each time she wilted with relief as soon as she caught sight of him.

Loki was quiet. Withdrawn. He ate little she could see, and spoke even less. She could not tell if he slept at all. She had told him days earlier that if he truly wished to leave Asgard, she would go with him.

 _That is, should you be willing to be seen travelling the realms with your mother,_ she'd said it lightly, hoping to tease a smile. He'd only given her a blank look in return, as though he could not fathom someone wanting to be at his side.

She filled her visits with busy work, intersped with light chatter. She kept him appraised of gossip and news. Spent hours working on a weaving while he sat nearby paging through a book she was mostly sure he wasn't reading before telling him news of Jotunheim.

"They've formed a provisional government, led by - by one Laufey's sons." She watched him for any kind of reaction. Loki twitched once and was still. "They offered Asgard their unconditional surrender and have disavowed Laufey's declaration of war. They've asked for the peace treaty to be restored. Your father and his council are working out terms as we speak. Including aid to help them rebuilt and recover - from both...incidents."

She waited, hoping he would ask questions. Loki didn't look up from his book. He hadn't turned a page since she started speaking.

Frigga cleared her throat. "Your father..."

"Where's Thor?"

She was wondering when he would ask. "Thor has been restricted to his quarters."

Loki looked up at that. "By whom?"

"By me."

He blinked. "Why?"

Frigga considered her reply at length. "Your brother learned much during his short time on Midgard, though I suspect it was not as much as your father hoped."

Loki looked back down at his book.

"And it is my hope that by having more time to spend in contemplation he will learn more still."

Loki didn't look back up. "He knows, doesn't he? About me?"

"Yes."

"And so you've restricted him to his rooms to keep him from striking down the monster he was tricked into growing up with."

"No!" Frigga abandoned her loom and came to her feet. "There's no truth to that, Loki. None at all. Your brother loves you."

Loki laughed, brief and bitter, before pulling himself to his own feet. "If you'll pardon me, dear lady, I make for ill company. I think it best I retire for the night." He offered her a small bow of his head and turned away before she could respond.

When the doors of his sleeping chambers clicked shut, her knees gave out and she sank back down on the stool and tried not to weep.

 

*** * * * ***

 

Mid-way the next day, Thor left his quarters at last to join Frigga at a small table in a quiet part of her private garden. She waited as he carefully folded himself into a small chair and perused the untouched tray of delicacies set out by the servants. He left the food untouched. When he was ready to meet her searching gaze, his own eyes were still full of bewilderment over all that occurred, but when he spoke his voice was steady and strong.

"Forgive me, Mother. I've disobeyed your instruction."

"Oh?"

"You told not to leave my rooms until I could put myself in Loki's place and imagine how he felt. But I cannot. I have tried for days and I can't imagine how he feels at all." His smile was mirthless. "I realize now that was the lesson you wished me to learn. Forgive me, both my cruel words and for not understanding sooner."

"Thor," Frigga reached for him, pulling him into a fierce hug. His arm went around her in turn, holding on tightly. She returned the hug with greater ferocity as she felt his shoulder begin to shake, reaching with one hand to pet his hair. She offered him comfort for as long as he would allow it, before he pulled away and straightened up.

"I tried to see Loki, before coming to see you. He would not let me in. Should I...should I try to speak to him anyway? Or leave him be? I do not know what to do." Thor looked lost. Confident and cocksure even as a child and growing to the point of arrogance as a young man, it shattered another piece of her heart to see him like this.

"You will have to be patient, Thor. I know it is not so easy for you," Frigga softened the remark with a smile.

Thor huffed a laughed. "No, it's not." He sobered. "But is it right to leave Loki like this? I've spoken with Father. I know Loki will not leave his rooms and hardly speaks to anyone. There must something I can do?"

"We cannot force him to be at peace, Thor. Not with what's happened, nor with himself. We can give him our love. Make sure he knows his family is still here and his place in it is secure. And we wait. We wait for him to believe it."

"Then what?"

"Then we heal. Together."

Thor sat back in his chair. "You make it sound easy."

"Oh, it won't be," she said. "It will be the fiercest battle you or I have ever fought. Your father, too, though he'll never admit it. But I will not stand for Loki to be lost to us. I will not see our family be broken apart."

"Neither will I," Thor promised. "I will fight with you. Loki is my brother. I care not whom he was born to. We played together, fought together our whole lives. For as long as I can remember he has been at my side and I don't want that to change. Perhaps it is selfish of me, but I do not care."

Frigga smiled, her heart lightening for the first time in days. "Thor, I think there is something you can do."

Thor brightened. "Anything."

"Find a way to tell your brother what you've just told me."

 

*** * * * ***

 

The following morning she awoke to the most peculiar sight. Odin was leaning over the railing of the balcony next to her dressing room, still in his night clothes and twisted in such a fashion she worried one false move and he would tumble right over.

"What in the heavens...!"

"Shhhh!"

She started at his reaction and before she could give in to the impulse to give him a push, he grabbed hold of her, pulling her in close to him.

"I don't want them to see me," Odin said in a hush.

Confused, Frigga followed his gaze over the edge of the balcony even as she heard voices. One level down and almost directly below them, Thor sat on one of Loki's balconies. His legs were stretched out before him, his boots crossed at the ankle. Mjolnir sat nearby where he was propped up against the railing.

"...and when that dragon popped out of the cave, I can still remember the terrific yelp that escaped you," Thor's voice floated up, dim but clear.

"If I recall, it was from your throat came a far greater and higher pitched shriek than what I could manage. They must have heard you all the way in Niflheim." Loki's voice was fainter. He was not visible on the balcony.

Thor laughed. "Perhaps you're right. That dragon did give us quite a fright as boys."

"I remember you insisting to Father you were not frightened in the least. Even as you stood gasping for breath after the wretched thing chased us for hours."

Thor shrugged. "I was trying to stay brave for you."

Loki scoffed. "For me?"

"I am your brother. It was always my responsibility to be brave and keep you safe." Thor paused. "I have not always succeeded. For that, I am sorry."

Odin pulled Frigga gently away from the railing as the the conversation below them continued.

"I saw Thor flying by last night before I retired," Odin explained without prompting. "He landed on Loki's balcony and told him if Loki would not let him in, then Thor would stay where he was, but he had things he wished to say. I left them to it. Told the ravens to wake me if they tried to kill each other."

"Odin!"

"I am old and I was tired! And when I awoke," Odin hurried on before she could rethink giving him a shove. "Thor was still there. I think they have talked through the night. Are you all right?" Odin was looking at her with sudden concern.

Frigga laughed even as she felt her eyes well up. "I am. I am more than all right."  

Odin smiled. "Good."

"But I wonder," she began pleasantly, "why is it I've never before heard this tale about a dragon chasing my sons?"

"Oh, uh...my goodness, look how late it's gotten! I'll be late for council."

 

*** * * * ***

 

Frigga hovered near that balcony throughout the day. Not wanting to intrude on them, she struggled to keep her distance. She had servants bring them food and a note from her, telling Loki she did not want to intrude on his company and she would visit him later. She couldn't help herself from checking over the railing periodically. Saw Thor sitting in the same spot for much of the morning. By mid-afternoon, she could no longer see him, but Mjolnir remained. Occasionally she could hear raised voices, even shouting, but she chose to keep her peace and left them be.

Nightfall came, Odin returned from court, and still Mjolnir remained. Frigga sent more food and another message that she would visit in the morning. She learned the dishes sent earlier were sent back picked clean. Odin sent one of the ravens to wing past Loki's rooms and told her they were sitting together by the fire, still talking.

Before she climbed into bed for the night, Frigga peeked again over the railing. Mjolnir was still there. And she could hear the wondrous sound of her children laughing.

Her heart lightened by degrees. _Small steps._

 

*** * * * ***

 

The following morning, Loki appeared next to her at the breakfast table in her garden. He was alone, looking tired and pale to her anxious eyes. He sounded a little out of breath, but she realized perhaps it was a result of how tightly she was squeezing him. Frigga released him reluctantly, but he did not stray far as he pulled out a chair to sit close to her.

"How do you fare today, my son?" Frigga tried to keep her inquiry casual.

Loki looked down at his hands. On impulse, she wrapped her own around them, linking their fingers together as they so often did when Loki was small and walking with her. The gesture made him smile, slight but there.

"I wish I could tell you what you want to hear - that I am well, that my mind is at ease and I am assured of my place. But I would be lying to you. And I do not want to."

Frigga freed one hand to stroke her knuckles lightly down along his cheek. "Loki, there is nothing wrong with how you feel. Your feelings are your own, no one can say otherwise."

"I know."

His attention turned out to her garden, filled with greenery and lush, colourful blossoms, well-crafted pathways and birdsong. The longer he looked over every inch of space, the greater her sense of what was to come.

"I've decided to leave Asgard. For a time," he spoke quietly, but without hesitation.

Frigga breathed deep and forced a smile, as if the words did not cut like a sharpened blade. "Oh," she said. "Shall I hurry and pack my things to accompany you?"

Loki looked at her with adoration Frigga did not feel she deserved. "Mother, I would not dare deprive Asgard of her queen." He smiled one of his rare, genuine smiles. "For surely the realm will fall to ruin without you."

She smiled back. "Of course it will, we both know your father would be lost without me. But I think he could manage for a time."

"Perhaps, but let's not risk it. I won't be alone, Mother. Thor's coming with me."

She saw it then, that small glimmer of hope in his eyes, wobbly and uncertain, but present all the same and it reverberated through her. "It that so?"

"Yes," Loki said. "He's gone to see Father, to tell him we're leaving. Today."

"'Telling' him, you say?" Frigga quirked an amused brow at that.

Loki's brows echoed hers. "I did suggest he try asking. But...well, you know Thor."

"Yes, and I know your Father. I'm surprised we can't hear the shouting yet." She warmed at the small laugh that earned her. "You said you're departing today?"

He shrugged. "I see no reason to delay."

"Where will you go?" Frigga wanted to know, keeping her voice strong and encouraging when all she really wanted to do was to grab onto him, hold on tightly and never let go.

"Alfheim, I think," he sounded uncertain. "To start anyway. Thor and I haven't talked much about where we'll go."

She stroked his cheek again, studying the features of his face as if she didn't already have them committed to memory. "I have always believed you and Thor were meant to walk on a path together. That belief has not wavered. Even if it's one that leads you away from Asgard. But Loki, please remember a path that leads you away from a place can always lead you back again. If you choose to take it."

"I know, Mother," Loki assured her.

"Good. And Loki?"

"Yes?"

"If you encounter any more dragons, I expect to hear about it straightaway." she said, her voice tart. "Not nine and a half centuries later. Do you understand?"

Loki's expression went from wide-eyed to sheepish to impish inside a breath. "Yes, Mother. In my defense, I was very young and it did not occur to me Father, or Thor, wouldn't have told you. I, for one, would never dream of keeping such a thing from you."

His smile was made of mischief, and Frigga laughed as her heart soared.

  
  


_The End._

 

**Author's Note:**

> Based on this [Tumblr prompt ](http://foreverlokid.tumblr.com/post/137430407861/how-about-an-au-with-frigga-going-to-the-bifrost).


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